North Korea has fired several ballistic missiles as South Korea and the United States initiated military drills.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday that North Korea’s fifth launch event this year fired several missiles off the west coast into the sea.

The launch came as South Korea and the US began their annual Freedom Shield joint exercises. The drills are scheduled to last until March 20.

That drew condemnation from nuclear-armed Pyongyang, which issued a statement calling the exercises a “dangerous provocative act” that increases the risk of military conflict.

Fiery rhetoric

The Freedom Shield drills mark the first large-scale joint exercise since US President Donald Trump began his second term.

Trump, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term, has expressed a willingness to revive US-North Korean diplomacy.

Pyongyang has yet to respond to his overtures and has maintained its fiery rhetoric against Washington and Seoul over their joint military exercises, which Kim has portrayed as a rehearsal for invasion.

Advertisement

In a statement, the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Kim’s stated goal for “radical growth” of his nuclear force to counter growing threats posed by the US and its Asian allies.

The Freedom Shield exercises began shortly after South Korean and US forces paused live-fire training, as Seoul investigates how two of its fighter jets mistakenly bombed a civilian area during a warmup drill.

About 30 people were injured, two of them seriously, when South Korean fighter jets mistakenly fired eight MK-82 bombs on a civilian area in Pocheon, a town near the North Korean border, last Thursday.

Earlier, General Lee Youngsu, chief of staff of the South Korean Air Force, apologised about the injuries and property damage, which he said “should have never happened and must never happen again”.